The Supreme Court has now reaffirmed the conclusion of most courts that an inmate may invoke [the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act] to require accommodation of a totally idiosyncratic belief-- so long as it is sincerely held. Religious visions shared by no one else apparently still qualify.

I am all for restraint on the issue, and would never hold every Muslim accountable for the acts of a few. But it is not good for us or the Muslim world to pretend that this spreading jihadist violence isn’t coming out of their faith community.

Point of Inquiry this week welcomes Karen Abbott, author of a new book profiling four women who served as spies during the Civil War.

Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab is sentenced to six months in prison for a tweet.

Congressional Republicans apparently can't get excited about NASA's asteroid missions, because asteroids are just big rocks or something, which puts pretty much the whole thing in jeopardy. (Maybe if we promise to put a Ten Commandments on an asteroid they'll get enthused.)

UK judge orders a non-Catholic dad to take his kids to Catholic church services as part of a divorce settlement. That seems problematic.

Paris's mayor threatens to sue Fox News for its now-retracted Muslim "no-go zones" claims. Her name is Hidalgo, by the way, which of course means we're cousins, and I'll bet they'd totally let me crash.

I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.

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Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.

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Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.